ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the situation of four countries in Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) with regard to economic privation and structural adjustment programmes. It considers the concept of “adjustment with a human face” which arose out of the perceived deficiencies of adjustment programmes worldwide. The structure of the African economy is the underlying determinant of the continent’s central condition of underdevelopment. In the 1970s African countries began experiencing a serious crisis which grew in magnitude and effect, particularly with respect to poverty and its concomitant problems. Malawi’s real economic growth was favourable in the fifteen years following its independence in 1964. In Mozambique, the project aims at alleviating poverty through a programme of safety-net provisions and cash transfers to people in low income groups in urban areas and at establishing some social services such as the provision of water supplies in rural and urban areas.
